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March 5, 2020
CONTACT: Jo Maney, jmaney@bgrpr.com

NPI Brings Quantum Experts to Capitol Hill to Advocate for Additional NQI Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Photonics Initiative (NPI), a broad-based collaborative alliance among industry, academia, and government to raise awareness of optics, photonics and quantum science and technology, hosted academic and industry experts from across the U.S. this week to brief lawmakers and staff on the importance of continued investment in Quantum Information Science (QIS). Representatives from universities and companies met with members of the House and Senate to advocate for additional funding and support for the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) Act.

“In 2018, the NPI was proud to fight for and help secure passage of the bipartisan NQI Act,” said Ed White, Chair of the NPI Steering Committee and Vice President Test, Assembly, and Packaging for AIM Photonics. “This was essential to maintaining U.S leadership in the scientific and technological frontier of quantum research. In 2019, we successfully worked with lawmakers to secure over $300 million across three federal agencies to get the NQI up and running. Now, we are working to build on that success. The focus of our meetings this week was to ensure the necessary coordination and funding will be there to sustain this research and establish a quantum workforce for the future. We look forward to working with lawmakers and agency officials to continue these efforts in the coming year.”

Participants in this year’s Quantum Fly In included representatives from the University of Colorado Boulder, Purdue University, the University of Rochester, Amazon Web Services, GE Global Research, Google, IBM Quantum, Intel Corporation, Honeywell Quantum Solutions, Open Innovation Center at Riverside Research, Quibitekk, and Rigetti Computing. During their meetings with lawmakers and staff, the NPI advocates discussed the formal appropriations request for FY 2021 which includes:

•    $210 million for the National Science Foundation ($10 million each for five quantum centers and $160 million for QIS research)
•    $245 million for the Department of Energy Office of Science ($25 million each for five quantum centers and $120 million for QIS research, including $25 million to support early stage research for Quantum Internet)
•    $80 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the amount authorized in the NQI Act

To read the letters to House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairs, please click HERE and HERE.
 


About the NPI: The National Photonics Initiative (NPI) is a collaborative alliance among industry, academia and government to raise awareness of photonics and the impact of photonics on our everyday lives; increase cooperation and coordination among US industry, government and academia to advance photonics-driven fields; and drive US funding and investment in areas of photonics critical to maintaining US economic competitiveness and national security. The initiative is being led by top scientific societies including the American Physical Society (APS), the IEEE Photonics Society, the Laser Institute of America (LIA), The Optical Society (OSA) and SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics. For more information visit www.lightourfuture.org.